


Need to Know Basis

by prettylittlecandid31



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel Universe, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 9,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25093786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettylittlecandid31/pseuds/prettylittlecandid31
Summary: Captain America wasn't the only one to go down in the ice seventy years ago. HYDRA's top spy just so happened to go down with him. And she is only thirteen years old...
Comments: 9
Kudos: 11





	1. Better Than Any Man

Chapter One: Better Than Any Man 

"Get up." 

Irina blinked back the sleep in her eyes. Standing above her was one of the soldiers. She rolled over and sat up to face him. 

"What do you want?" She asked. It was the middle of the night. This soldier would not have been down here had the situation not been important.

"An order came down from the top. You have a new mission." 

"What is it?" 

"I don't have clearance to know. I'm supposed to bring you up to headquarters." 

The soldier bent down and unshackled Irina from the bedpost. 

"Fine. Lead the way." 

*****

Moments later, they arrived at the double doors that led to headquarters. The soldier who had brought her disappeared through the doors for a moment, then reappeared again. 

"He's ready for you." 

Irina entered into a dimly lit room. A tall, darkly shadowed man stood behind a mahogany wood desk. He was staring out into the brutal Russian night through enormous windows. Irina did not need him to turn around in order to realize who he was. She knew immediately that it was Red Skull. 

Shakily, she took a knee in front of the head of HYDRA. 

"Ready to comply." She said. 

Red Skull did not turn around. 

"They say that you are the best of the best." Red Skull's voice cut through the silence. 

"I would say that I have the highest success rate." She replied, choosing her words carefully. 

"I would say you have more than that." Red Skull turned to face her. "You, my dear, are a natural. A natural killer." 

Irina rose to her feet. 

"What do you need me to do?" She asked. 

"I need you to be better than anyone. I need you to rise above any other man," Red Skull stared deep into her eyes. "Can you do this for me?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Intelligence says we have unexpected visitors arriving shortly. You will join me on the missile plane. Should I fail, you-" He paused, almost as if he was regretting the next words. "You shall eliminate Captain America and complete the mission." 

Irina's heart was pounding in her chest, but she could not allow Red Skull to see through her. She was the best. She was a natural. When Red Skull asked her to do something, it would be done. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Dismissed." 

Irina turned and walked from the room, well aware that she had been one of the few people who had seen Red Skull in a moment of doubt, and lived. She took the left stairs down towards the launch room. 

There was no time to waste. 


	2. Into the Ice

Chapter Two: Into the Ice 

The plane was eerily silent. Nothing moved. The loudest sound you could hear was Irina's heart beat. She didn't know about Red Skull's, though. She was pretty sure that he might not have one. She stayed in position for what felt like hours, huddled in the aft hold of the plane. That didn't bother her. This was what she had been trained to do. When she was on a mission, she was at her best. 

Moments later, she heard footsteps. They were the quietest footsteps she had ever heard, but yet they were still audible. 

"You won't get away with this." 

There it was. That voice. _God's most righteous man,_ Red Skull had said. _He believes that he can save the world. He is wrong. Do not listen to him. Everything he is is inherently corrupt._

"Ah, but I already have." 

Irina couldn't see what was happening, but she could hear it. She didn't need her eyes to tell her that they were fighting. She heard everything. One sound was foreign to her, however. It was a faint humming, and it sounded like nothing she had ever heard before. It sounded like something powerful, something that humans were not meant to possess. She did not fear much, but this sound unnerved her. 

Then something exploded. She ducked her head into her arms, curling her body into the tightest space possible. She waited, expecting at any moment, that something would hit her. Nothing did. The noise stopped, and she immediately knew what had happened. 

_I need you to be better than anyone._

_I need you to be better than any man._

_Can you do this for me?_

She was about to rise from her position, when she heard the voice again. 

"Peggy?" It said. "Peggy, I'm going to need a rain check on that dance." 

"Okay." A voice came through some kind of speaker, crackling in the silence. "Nine o'clock on the dot at the Bent House. Don't you dare be late." 

"Don't worry." It said. "I'll be there." 

"Promise me." said the voice. 

"I promise." 

The last voice Irina heard before the plane plunged into the ice was a woman's heart breaking. 

"Steve?" 

The world turned black. 


	3. Discovery

Chapter 3: Discovery 

_Seventy Years Later..._

"Eagle to Island Tower, do you copy?" 

"Island Tower to Eagle, we read you loud and clear." 

Greg and his copilot Scott were sitting in a plane above the the white frozen landscape. They were bored. It was a routine flyover, and absolutely nothing interesting ever happened during routine flyovers. Besides, there was no point in doing a flyover in the winter, when you couldn't see anything but white flecks of snow. 

"Greg." 

He looked at his co-pilot, a little exasperated. 

"What?" 

"Do you see that?" 

Greg turned his head to look at where Scott was pointing. 

"I don't see nothing." 

Scott huffed impatiently. "Look again." 

Greg looked a little harder. Through the snow, he could suddenly see something he hadn't seen before. 

"We better call this in." 

*****

The ground team landed in position approximately twenty minutes later. Once SHIELD had been called in, it only took moments for the plane to be swarming with agents. Covered in snow, they entered the wreckage. 

"Sir!" 

Agent Uwser had been chosen to head this operation. He turned to the agent. "Report." 

"I've found him." 

Agent Uwser followed the woman deep into the center of the plane. There he found three other agents, surrounding a body encased inside the ice. The red, white, and blue of the uniform was obvious even from beneath the ice. 

"Unbelievable." He whispered, placing his hand on the ice. "We found him." 

He only allowed himself a moment of shock and awe. Then he composed himself.

"Take him back to headquarters." He ordered. There was an immediate scurry of movement.

"Sir!" A different agent approached Agent Uwser from the back of the plane. "There's another one." 

Agent Uwser tried to hide his surprise. "Another what?" 

"Another one. It's- she's- a girl." 

"Show me." He ordered. 

He followed the agent to another body encased inside the ice. The agent was correct. She only looked to be about thirteen years old. Agent Uwser studied the body. There was something different about this girl. She was wearing a black uniform, tight-fitted to her body. On the upper left shoulder, there was symbol that only took him a moment to recognize. 

"Get me Director Fury." He said. "Let's take them both, and get to headquarters as soon as possible." 

"Yes, sir." 

Agent Uwser shivered, but not from the cold. Something was wrong here. Very, very wrong. He was starting to think he shouldn't have accepted Director Fury's call this morning. 


	4. Man Out of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: This dialogue is directly taken from the end scene of Captain America: The First Avenger, and is the property of Marvel. I claim absolutely no ownership of it. The narration, other than the dialogue, was written by me.

Chapter 4: Man Out of Time 

"Curve ball, high and outside for ball one. So the Dodgers are tied, 4-4. And the crowd well knows that with one swing of his bat, this fellow's capable of making it a brand-new game again. Just an absolutely gorgeous day here at Ebbets Field." 

Steve opened his eyes. It took him a minute to gather what had woken him up. Then he realized he didn't know where he was. The last thing he remembered had been talking to- 

"The Phillies have managed to tie it up at 4-4. But the Dodgers have three men on. Pearson beaned Reiser in Philadelphia last month. Wouldn't the youngster like a hit here to return the favor?" 

Steve sat up on the edge of the bed. He had an odd feeling that something was not right. He looked at the radio. The words were starting to register in his head now. 

"Pete leans in. Here's the pitch. Swung on. A line to the right. And it gets past Rizzo. Three runs will score. Reiser heads to third. Durocher's going to wave him in. Here comes the relay, but they won't get him." 

A baseball game, he realized. Playing on a radio. 

The door opened. A woman walked into the room. She had dark, curled hair, and brown eyes. She was wearing a white blouse, with an oversize black tie. 

"Good morning," She said. She looked at her watch. "Or should I say afternoon?" 

"Where am I?" 

"You're in a recovery room in New York City." 

"The Dodgers take the lead 8-4. Oh, Dodgers! Everyone is on their feet. What a game we have here today, folks. What a game indeed." 

Steve was silent. He was in a recovery room. But something felt wrong. This baseball game. It sounded familiar. Almost like... 

Almost like he had been there when it had happened. He looked at the woman again. 

"Where am I really?" 

A hint of concern crossed her face. But it seemed very falsified. 

"I'm afraid I don't understand." She replied, clearly trying to maintain composure. 

"The game." Steve said. "It's from May, nineteen forty-one. I know, 'cause I was there." 

Her composure was faltering more now. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her hand reach back to grab something attached to her waist. Something wasn't right. And she knew it. 

He decided to remain calm for the moment. There was no sense to promoting violence. 

"Now, I'm going to ask you again. Where am I?" 

"Captain Rodgers-" A faulty attempt to regain control, but that's when he knew for certain. 

"Who are you?" He asked. 

She didn't respond. That's when he knew. This whole thing was fake. 

He ran past her and smashed through the tan wall. Agents were coming from all sides, but they should have been smarter than that. He was no ordinary soldier. 

"Captain Rodgers, wait!" 

He barely heard her. He was already running full speed through the building, toward what he was hoping was an exit. 

"All agents, code thirteen! I repeat, all agents, code thirteen!" 

He pushed past the agents, shoving them to the floor with little to no grace. There was no time for that. He had to figure out where he was. He had to figure out why they were lying to him. Finally, he found the exit, and burst through glass doors. What he saw made him go skidding to a halt in the middle of a street. But it was nothing like he was used to. Ignoring the car horns, he spun around in shock. There were flashing neon signs all around him. He saw buildings that touched the sky. He saw cars, but they were much more advanced and faster than the ones he was used to. His disorientation caused him to be completely unaware of five black cars creating a barrier around him. 

"At ease, soldier!" 

Steve blinked. In front of him was a man with an eye patch over his right eye. He was staring solidly back into Steve's eyes, with no hesitation. Like a commander. 

"Look," He said. "I'm sorry about that little show back there, but we thought it best to break it to you slowly. Steve said nothing. He was waiting for information he had figured out already. He had known, but his heart was pounding inside his chest. He could tell it wasn't just from exertion. 

"Break what?" He heard himself say. 

"You've been asleep, Cap. For almost seventy years." 

Steve blinked. Seventy years. Gone. Gone because he had put his country over his own life. Or so he had thought. 

Beside his pain, there was a thought nagging at him. Or, more accurately, a person. 

_Peggy..._

"You gonna be okay?" Fury asked. 

Steve didn't know. He was starting to think he might never be okay again. But he couldn't just say no. Obviously, this was some kind of organization. Due to the trick they had just pulled earlier, they didn't trust him completely yet. If he told them how he really felt, he might end up in a padded cell. So he went with the next best option. 

"Yeah. Yeah, I just... I had a date." 


	5. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't speak Russian. There is some Russian in this chapter, and it's probably not completely accurate. Please don't judge the bad Russian, I tried my best. Translation (again, prolly not completely accurate) will appear right next to the Russian. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 5: Interrogation

"Is she awake yet?" Agent Coulson asked. 

"No. But she should be coming around soon. Then we'll have to decide what we want to do with her." 

"Begging your pardon, Director Fury, but she is just a _child_." 

"Begging _your_ pardon, Agent, but considering where we found her, I'd hazard a guess that she is a lot more than just a child. We don't know who she is, but we have a pretty good idea of where she came from, and who she worked for. Given her history, we cannot afford to take any chances, child or no." 

Agent Coulson was silent. He knew a shut down when he heard one. Deep in his mind, he knew that Fury was right. But he couldn't help but think that there was something wrong with treating a child like they were dangerous. 

"Understood." Agent Coulson said. 

Director Fury turned back towards the glass. The girl was laying on a medical cot. Her breathing was normal, but she seemed to be stirring. 

"Excuse me." He said. He walked past Agent Coulson toward the door. 

"And one more thing." He said. "Under no circumstances can Captain Rodgers know that she exists." 

Agent Coulson nodded assent, and Director Fury exited the observation room and headed toward the room on the other side. 

A little Russian spy was about to wake up. 

*****

Irina opened her eyes. She was almost blinded by the light coming from the ceiling. Blinking hard, she slowly adjusted her eyes to the brightness. For a moment, she couldn't remember anything. Then her brain kicked in. She remembered the world exploding around her. She remembered her vision going dark. 

She should've been dead. Why wasn't she dead? Then it hit her. Someone must have found her. That meant- she had failed. She was compromised. 

There was no one else in the room with her, so that meant either she was alone, or someone was watching her. Probably both. She tried to sit up, in order to get her bearings. She couldn't get up. She was tied to the cot. 

"Chert." She muttered under her breath. She tried to maneuver her hands out of the restraints, but it didn't work. It was like they were made of steel. Finally, she resigned herself to her position. Struggle appeared to be pointless. She had no choice but to wait until whoever had capture her revealed themselves. 

"You're a spunky little thing." 

Irina turned her head to the side. There was a man in a tall black cloak standing across the room. His cloak wasn't the only thing that was black. The rest of his clothing was colored similarly. He wore an eye patch over his right eye. He looked nothing like any agent she had ever seen before, but there was something in his eye that told her he was not a man to mess with. 

"Otpusti menya." Irina demanded. (Where am I?) 

"I'm assuming you want out." The agent pulled a strange looking device from his pocket. He clicked a button on the device. Her restraints slid back into the sides of the cot. She sat up, rubbing her wrists, glaring at the agent with deadly ferocity. 

For a moment, they had a silent staring contest. The agent seemed to be waiting for her to make a move. But Irina did nothing. She would give this man no advantages. Finally he spoke. 

"Who are you? Where did you come from?" 

"Gnit' v adu." Irina hissed. (Go to hell.) 

The agent sighed. "I don't know what that meant, but I'm assuming it was offensive."

Irina did not reply. The agent was silent for a few minutes. He would soon realize that he would get nothing from her. 

"Alright," He said. "Have it your way." 

Then he walked through the interrogation room door, leaving her alone in the room. 

***** 

Natasha was busier than Fury had thought she would be. He'd found her down in one of the training rooms, pummeling a new recruit. The sounds of fighting were all around him. He approached the edge of their mat and watched silently. Natasha swung her legs around the recruit's neck and flung him easily to the mat. She rolled to the side, then pressed up to a standing position. 

"Nice move," She said, offering her hand to the dazed recruit. "You would've had me, had you not lowered your guard in the last second." 

He took her hand, and stood up shakily. 

"Really?" He asked, his eyes hopeful. 

"No." 

Disappointed, he walked toward the lockers, where a shower and a water bottle were waiting for him. Natasha spotted Fury, then walked over. 

"You know," Fury commented, "I'm starting to think it was unfair of me to have you as a part-time recruit trainer." 

Natasha shrugged. "You give out the assignments, not me. So, what brings you all the way down here to this sweat pool?" 

"We have a situation. It's highly classified. We need you to come up to interrogation room five. You'll be fully briefed there." 

Natasha grinned. "I'll see you in a minute." 

*****

Irina had spent a couple of hours pacing away her boredom inside of her cell. It was too late for a plan, or an escape. Besides, her body was still trying to adjust to being alive again. It felt stiff and achy, as if it hadn't moved for a long time. A _really_ long time. About an hour into her confinement, she did an elaborate stretch routine. The hours had passed and it had worked pretty well. She felt like she could move again. She sat on her cot again, counting all the way up to one-thousand in English, then again in Russian. That stupid agent. He hadn't even realized she could speak English as well as any American. It had been part of her training. She had needed to understand anything enemies would be saying. Naturally, she knew fifty other languages besides Russian and English. Not only was she a master assassin, she was also a master linguist. 

She was staring to get hungry, but she tried to ignore it by humming a lullaby she had heard since she was small. 

And that was when the door opened. 

They had sent in a new agent this time. She was female, with red hair. She looked every bit as dangerous as the first agent, if not more. She came in quietly, holding a small tray of food. When Irina mad eye contact with her, she saw something familiar in her eyes. This agent hadn't spoken a single word and she already reminded her of herself. 

"Ty dolzhen byt' golodnym." (You must be hungry.) 

Irina blinked, surprised. This agent spoke Russian. It had been too long since she had heard her mother tongue. She almost let herself relax for a moment, but instead, she decided to stay silent. The agent sat down on the bench across from Irina's cot, setting the tray down in her lap. Irina stared at the food. She _was_ hungry. But she had no idea if eating the food was safe. 

"Vot." (Here.) The agent picked up a roll and handed it to her. "Vse normal'no. Ukus." (It's okay. Eat.) 

Irina hesitated for an instant, then the hunger overcame her. She snatched the roll from the agent's hands. Fingering it for a moment, she examined its surface. Nothing appeared to be abnormal. Cautiously, she took a bite. It was still warm. As quickly as she had taken the roll, she finished it. 

"Spasibo." Irina said. (Thank you.) 

"You're welcome." The agent replied. "I know you can understand me, so, for the sake of my peers, I'd like to switch to English." 

Her peers. So she was being watched. But she had already known that, so this was nothing new. Instead of reacting, Irina considered the proposal. She knew it wasn't one, but she preferred to pretend that it was. This gave her some control. She decided that if the agent already knew she could speak it, it wouldn't do anymore harm. She was running out of advantages anyway. 

"Okay." Her English was accented, seeing as she had not spoken the language in a long time. 

The agent handed her the tray. Irina looked at the food only for a moment, before diving in. 

"I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. You can choose whether to answer them, or not." 

Irina nodded. She knew that second part was a lie. She didn't have a choice. 

"Who are you?" The agent asked. 

"Who are you?" Irina countered. 

The agent sighed. "Okay. That's fair. I'm Natasha Romanoff. Now you answer." 

"Irina."

"Where did you come from?" 

That answer was easy. 

"Russia." 

"Could you get a little more specific than that?" 

"No." 

Agent Romanoff stood. "That's fine. We already knew the answer to that question." 

Agent Romanoff walked closer to her, finally she lowered her face down next to her ear. 

"There is a place," She whispered. "In Russia. Young girls are held there, learning ballet. But it's really a cover. A cover for a program. They train these girls to become master assassins. It's called the Red Room." 

All Irina's memories came flooding back at the same time. She remembered watching her parents fall ill, watching the life fade out of them. She remembered being taken to an orphanage. She remembered dancing until her feet went numb. And she remembered- she remembered killing little girls just like her. 

"We are very similar, you and I," Agent Romanoff said, standing. "We are both damaged." 

Irina was silent. She could see now why they had sent this agent. She was deadly. She could get into your head. 

"I was the best. The star student. They used me for so many missions. Then one day- I got a mission. But it was different this time. I went into his office. Red Skull's. He told me he had an assignment for me. To- to succeed if he failed." 

"That's how you got onto that plane." Agent Romanoff whispered. Then she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, leaving Irina alone once more. 


	6. Congrats, You Time Traveled.

Chapter 6: Congrats, You Time Traveled. 

Irina was really starting to regret ever opening her mouth. Agent Romanoff was good. Too good. Good enough to make a top HYDRA spy fall to pieces, by only saying a few words. Irina fumed silently. Curse that Agent Romanoff. Irina hadn't even said any specific details, yet when she had looked into Agent Romanoff's eyes, she knew that the agent had figured it out. 

_Killing Captain America should have been easy_ , her mind told her. _All you had to do was shove his stupid shield down his stupid throat. But no, you couldn't do that. Instead, you got captured by an unknown organization. And now they know exactly what your mission was, just because you let your guard down for a few minuscule seconds. Congrats. You really are HYDRA's best agent._

The silence in the room was starting to get to her. There was no way to tell how much time had passed, but if Irina had to guess, she would've said it had been about two days. Two days of staring at a wall. She cursed internally. The whole situation was completely out of control. She was a hostage, and she didn't know who her enemy was. Normally, she would've known exactly who she was dealing with. But today, everything was foreign. At least she knew one thing for certain. They would not break her again. According to all HYDRA data, she was unbreakable. At first, she had been weak. But she was past her emotions. Now, she would be stone. No words could soften her, _break_ her again. 

It wasn't long into what Irina assumed was the second day when the door opened again. It was Agent Romanoff. 

She shut the door and sat down on the bench across from Irina. Irina studied her carefully, making sure to keep her face clear of any emotion. She was determined to make this meeting go much different than the last. 

"There's something you need to know." Agent Romanoff said. 

Irina was surprised. A spy, willing to tell her information. That was a first. 

"This is probably going to be hard to understand." Agent Romanoff said. 

Irina rolled her eyes internally. Nothing was hard for her to understand. She had fought and killed so many. 

"I am not a child." Irina said. 

Agent Romanoff sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to think of the best way to tell you this." 

The look in Agent Romanoff's eyes bothered Irina. She felt a shiver go through her spine. 

"You might not believe me." Agent Romanoff warned. 

"Tell me!" She practically yelled. Her patience was wearing thin. Why was Agent Romanoff dragging this out? Why was this so hard for her to say? 

"Okay," Agent Romanoff said. "Okay. You've been asleep." 

Irina was confused. "What do you mean?" 

"I mean, you've been asleep. For seventy years." 

Irina blinked. Seventy years. 

Gone.

Irina's heart was pounding. She couldn't think. All she could sense was this bright ball of anger starting in the middle of her chest and expanding, growing and rising into her head.

"No," She whispered into the floor. "Not real. There's no way it could possibly be real-"

She looked at Agent Romanoff. There was no sense of hesitancy in her eyes. She was not lying, though with every fiber of her being, Irina wanted to believe that she was. She wanted to hit something. Or someone. And before she could blink, she felt her hands shove Agent Romanoff into the wall.

"You're lying!" She yelled. She knew that Romanoff was not lying. But she would do anything to believe that she was.

Agent Romanoff met her eyes coolly. "Take. Your hands. Off me."

Something in Agent Romanoff's eyes made Irina's anger fizzle and die out, like a hot coal being doused in water. She froze. She found herself pinned to the floor, her arm twisted uncomfortably behind her back.

"Just so I make myself clear," Agent Romanoff whispered. "Do that again, and you will find yourself without any memories, in a cell, with a new mission."

"Fine. Get off me."

Agent Romanoff released her hold, and Irina stumbled to her feet. It was time to stop fighting the inevitable. She had failed her mission. She was here. Seventy years into the future. She might as well take advantage of her situation. But she still had one question.

"Did he make it?" She asked.

Agent Romanoff did not respond. She just walked out the door. Again. That was all the confirmation that Irina needed.

Captain America was still alive. 


	7. Lunch and a Movie

Chapter 7: Lunch and a Movie 

When Irina woke up, she found herself sitting upright. That was strange. Normally she was laying down. Something was wrong. 

She opened her eyes, and quickly became aware of movement underneath her feet. She was in a vehicle. The window in front of her was black, so she looked to her side. 

What she saw nearly took her breath away. 

The city was massive. Cars flooded the streets. The buildings were huge, seeming to touch the sky and keep on disappearing forever. Flashing neon signs were everywhere. They were bright and bold and changing, advertising t-shirts one moment, then perfume the next. Noises flooded her ears; car horns, yelling, and very colorful language. 

The window between her and the driver's seat rolled down. Sitting in the passenger seat was an all-too-familiar face. 

"Welcome to New York City." Natasha Romanoff said, grinning. 

Irina wanted to scream. She was getting sick of all these ridiculous antics. The secrecy. The constant coming and going of agents. 

And now, the being-knocked-out-and-waking-up-in-a-car-with-no-clue-what's-happening. 

"Sorry about him," Romanoff said, gesturing to the driver. "They wouldn't let me drive you myself, so he had to come with us." 

The agent waved to her in the rear view mirror. 

"Hello," He said. "My name is Agent Yousza." 

Irina sighed. She was holding back several choice Russian swear words. "Hello." 

"So," Romanoff said. "Are you hungry?" 

**** 

Irina was hungry. Fifteen minutes later they arrived at a restaurant that was crammed between a barber shop and an Indian grocery store. 

"Stay here," Romanoff said to Agent Yousza, closing the door behind her. "We'll be back in a few." 

Irina exited the passenger side and followed Romanoff toward the restaurant. There was a big glowing letter M on the top of the building. The smell of meat cooking hit Irina's nose immediately, making her stomach grumble. And something else. It smelled potatoey. 

"Do you like burgers?" Romanoff asked. 

"What are those?" 

Natasha gasped. "Oh my gosh. Sweetheart, we are getting you a burger. It's about time we introduced you to American food." 

They reached the front of the line. Natasha ordered whatever two Big Macs, two small fries, and two small McFlurries were,

Turns out, two Big Macs, two small fries, and two small McFlurries were two hamburgers, two containers full of fried potatoes, and two cookies and cream milkshake-like things. 

And they were delicious. Irina was halfway through her burger when Romanoff decided it was time to talk. 

"I'm sorry it took me so long to get you out of there," She said. "They spent a lot of time arguing about whether it was okay to introduce you to New York." 

"It's fine," Irina replied. It wasn't fine. She had hated that cell. 

"Anyway, we need to talk," Natasha said. "It's about time I told you who we are." 

So, for the next two hour, Irina sat, eating her burger, and listening. She learned about the organization that had found her, called SHIELD. She learned that they had won the war. She learned who HYDRA was, and what they had really stood for. She learned about what had happened since. She could tell Natasha was trying really hard to cover a lot of it, but it was clear that it was hard to cover it all. It was just too much for two hours. But by the end of their conversation, Irina was beginning to relax. She was no longer angry, or confused. Of course, she still had some of both those emotions, but much less of it. She took the last bite of her McFlurry. For once in her life, she was feeling something she'd never felt before. She was feeling full. 

"I'd like to come here again." She said, relaxing on the red bench. 

"Obviously, we can't eat here all the time," Natasha commented. "It's just not healthy." 

"Obviously." Irina said, smiling. 

There was silence for a moment.

"So I have one question for you," Natasha said. "Would you like to join SHIELD?" 

Irina blinked. Join SHIELD. The organization she had been fighting for her whole life. Who she had discovered to actually be the good guys. She had caused them so much hurt. She had fought, and killed their people. All in the name of justice and freedom. 

But she still felt that part of her would forever belong apart from the world. Like she wasn't even human enough to return. She stared down at her empty burger wrapper. Maybe that was a sign. If she could sit in public, eating a burger, maybe she could re-learn herself. 

"I need more time to think about it." 

"Take all the time you need." 

*****

They found Agent Yousza standing on the sidewalk, looking cross. 

"Where's the car?" Natasha asked him. 

"It's been towed." Agent Yousza said, gesturing angrily to the sign in front of where the car had been. "That says, fifteen minute parking spot. You were gone for two hours." 

Natasha looked down at Irina, who was trying hard not to laugh. Their situation was comical. 

"Well, did you tell them who you were?" Natasha asked. 

"Yes, and as soon as they realized that I worked for the government, they were even more eager to take my car away!" 

Irina's hand went up to her mouth, stifling her quiet giggles. 

Natasha sighed. "Okay. Fine. Alright. We'll get a taxi." 

She turned to the street and let out a piercing taxi whistle. A cab stopped near them about two minutes later. 

"Where to?" The driver said, looking at them through the rear view mirror. 

"32nd Street and Main." Natasha replied. 

Irina was stuck in-between the two agents. It was one of the more uncomfortable situations she had ever been in. 

"Where are we going?" She asked Natasha. 

"Movie theater," Natasha replied. "There's a World War Two movie showing. I thought we could catch it." 

"No." Irina said suddenly. Natasha turned to her, surprised. 

"What?" 

"I said no." Irina repeated. She imagined watching the world she had lived in on the screen. And suddenly, she felt the urge to vomit up her Big Mac. 

Natasha must've seen the expression in her eyes, because she did not hesitate. 

"Change of plans," Natasha said politely to the taxi driver. "Could we borrow your taxi?" 

***** 

The driver had protested, but soon Natasha had persuaded him (read: threatened him) to pull over to the side and allow Yousza to essentially commandeer the vehicle. To Yousza's delight, they left the driver standing alone on the sidewalk. 

"Finally," Yousza muttered happily to himself. "a car." 

Natasha had taken shotgun again, and Irina suddenly found the back of the cab much more spacious. The air was still stale, but it couldn't have mattered less to her. 

"The location of headquarters is a secret," Natasha explained, "So we had to take his car to get back to the building." 

"What is headquarters called?" Irina asked. 

"We call it the Triskelion." Natasha replied. "But unfortunately, you won't be awake to see it." 

Before Irina could protest, she felt a small dart slip into the side of her neck. 

"Nighty night." Natasha whispered. 

Irina's world faded to black. 


	8. S.H.I.E.L.D.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everybody... sorry I literally haven't updated on this fic for a freaking long time. It's been a mental health roller coaster, if ya know what I mean. Anyway, here's the next chapter, sorry it took SO DANG LONG to finally come out. Thanks for reading I appreciate it a ton!!!

Chapter 8: S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Yesterday, Irina had awoken to find Director Fury staring at her. If that wasn't unsettling, she didn't know what was. 

"I need your decision." He had said. 

"I need more time." She had replied. 

"You must have misunderstood me, so just in case I wasn't perfectly clear," He had leaned closer to her, his one visible eye glinting. "I need your decision. _Now_." 

He leaned back into his chair, checking the time. 

"You have thirty seconds." 

_Twenty-nine._

Irina knew she'd never be able to fully trust them. That wasn't how spy organizations worked. Someone would always be hiding something. 

_Twenty-eight._

On the other hand, Captain America was still alive. If she joined, she could cause all sorts of problems. For them. 

_Twenty-seven._

Maybe it would be easier to just abandon her original mission. After all, HYDRA was bad. Right? 

_Twenty-six._

Irina remembered all the faces of those people she had killed. And one that she hadn't. 

_Twenty-five._

Suddenly, she knew what she had to do. She could join this team. But she'd always have to keep one eye open. 

_Twenty-_

"Alright!" 

Fury had looked up from his clock. 

"I'll join." 

_I'll join, but I'll never fully be here._

*****

"So what does SHIELD even stand for?" 

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division." Fury said. 

Irina raised her eyebrows. "Wow. That's a mouthful." 

"Tell that to the person who named us." Fury replied. "She was very... _insistent_ that the name spell shield." 

_Interesting,_ Irina thought. _No one would choose that long of a name unless they had some kind of sentimental attachment._

"Before you get started, there are some things you need to know," Fury said. "First, we've given you a new name. If you're going to be working for this agency, no one can know who you _really_ are." 

Irina smirked. "A thirteen year-old Russian spy who worked for HYDRA until her last mission plunged her into the ice with America's most iconic hero and sent her seventy years into the future?" 

"Exactly." Fury said. He pulled open a drawer, grabbing a name tag on a lanyard. He handed it to her. 

"This is who you are now." 

Irina took the lanyard, then looked down at its face. 

It was her face, smiling. That was rare. Underneath the photo, there were these words. 

**Iris Tomphson**

**Age: 13 years**

**Height: 5'4**

**Clearance Level: Two**

"That," Fury said, pointing to the lanyard, "Is your badge. It will give you access into anywhere you're allowed to be. Wear it when you're in the Triskelion. Anywhere else, I don't want to see it." 

"And where am I allowed to be?" 

"The mess hall, the main corridor, Lab Five, Work Room Six, and here." 

She raised an eyebrow. "Your office?" 

"Yes. We had to get that one made special. It works, but only if there's another agent with you." 

"Hooray." She said sarcastically. She'd been hoping to catch the opportunity to sneak in. Now that hope was gone. 

"Knock knock." A voice said at the door. 

"Enter." Fury said, pressing a button on his desk. The door opened. 

Natasha entered the room, dressed in black. 

"Hey there, Irina," She said, "Or should I say Iris?" 

"How did you-" 

"Know your new name? I picked it. Kind of an expert at double identities." 

Fury pulled a few more papers out of the desk. 

"We also have all of your identification papers here. You're officially legal." 

Natasha sat next to Irina. 

"There's one more thing," She said. "Since you have no place to go, Fury- _requested-_ that you stay with me." 

Irina smiled. She was now in position to potentially have access to all sorts of information. Sure, she hadn't been expecting this particular curve ball, but she was ready to roll with the punches. 

"Sounds good to me." She said, smiling. 

Fury stood, and shook Irina's hand. 

"Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D."


	9. Adjustment

Chapter Nine: Adjustment

Steve got settled in quickly. Faster than he thought he could have handled. Soon, he found himself living in a fully furnished apartment in Washington D.C. He supposed it would have been comfortable if it hadn't been for the nightmares. 

They came to him when he least expected it. Sometimes, they woke him up in a cold sweat at 2:00 AM. They always started out nice. He'd be dancing with Peggy, their faces barely inches apart. She'd smile up at him and everything felt perfect. Then the world around him would fall apart until he found himself screaming hoarsely, watching his best friend fall off the train toward the bottom of the cliff. And every time, he heard Peggy's voice;

_Why did you abandon us?_

He always thought that he had done the right thing. But in those moments in the dark, his heart questioned his motives fiercely. 

The nightmares were only half the problem. His bed was too soft. It was squishy in places that it should have been firm. Too many nights in the army had conditioned him to sleeping on mattresses that felt like rocks. Now his bed was too comfortable. Too safe. So whenever he woke up screaming, or whenever he couldn't fall asleep, he took a thick wool blanket and the stiffest pillow he could find and slept on the hard wooden floor of his living room. 

In the mornings, he started going on long runs through the Mall. He took different pathways every time. Sometimes, he ran into other soldiers who had retired. Whatever that meant. 

The weirdest adjustment was getting a phone. They had shifted from being stationary devices to mobile devices. Now he could slide his phone into the pocket of his jeans. And they could do so much more than just call. He had discovered Angry Birds and Candy Crush. They were his latest distraction. 

Cars were faster. Pollution was worse. Earth had nuclear bombs. They'd won his war, and the next couple after that. Cities were louder, technology was better, and HYDRA was gone. 

Or so it appeared. In silent moments, thoughts about HYDRA came back. Had they truly been defeated? Because to Steve, it seemed like while the world had gotten a whole lot better, it had also gotten so much worse. 

That night, Steve decided to hit the gym. He had tried to fall asleep, failing several times until he gave up. The only option now was to channel his energy into something healthy. 

Once he reached the gym, he started pummeling his anger into a punching bag. The flashbacks hit him like the punches did. 

_Smack._

His anxiety peaking as his skinny body was encased in a black container in an experiment he may or may not come out of alive. 

_Smack._

Being used as a political tool by the government and never actually getting to do any real fighting. A puppet in red, white, and blue. 

_Smack._

Finding out his best friend and two hundred other men were deep into enemy territory, either dead or missing in action, and there was nothing he could do about it. 

_Smack._

Going behind enemy lines armed with a shield that was only meant as a prop. Succeeding on his mission. Getting Bucky back. Falling for Peggy. Hard. Losing Bucky. His final mission. Losing Peggy... 

The punches flew harder, faster, until the punching bag flew off of its chain and thumped to the floor. 

Steve hung another punching bag. He was about to start again when he heard the door open. 

"Trouble sleeping?" 

He turned his head. It was Director Fury. That man was everywhere. 

"I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill." He turned and began to pummel the bag again. 

"Then you should be out, celebrating. Seeing the world." 

Steve stopped punching the bag. He walked over to a bench, sat, and started to unravel the tape off his hands. 

"I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." Steve said. 

"We've made some mistakes along the way," Fury said. "Some very recently." 

Steve stood up. "You here with a mission, sir?" 

"I am." 

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve asked bitterly. 

"Trying to save it." Fury held out a file in his hand. Steve took it. He opened the file to see a familiar image. 

"Hydra's secret weapon." He said, flat faced. 

Fury nodded. "Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think; the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs." 

Steve looked up. "Who took it from you?" 

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know." 

Steve shrugged. "At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." 

Fury smirked. "Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing package waiting you back at your apartment." 

Steve turned and picked up the punching bag, walking towards the gym exit. Another mission. About the very thing he had tried to make sure was lost permanently. Humans were just too curious. Especially Howard Stark. And now the world would pay for his curiosity. 

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Fury asked. 

Steve sighed internally. He remembered the giant blue explosion that had enveloped Red Skull. 

"You should have left it in the ocean." He said. Then he exited the gym and headed home. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dialogue from this chapter is taken directly from Avengers, and is the property of Marvel. I claim no ownership over it. The narration was written by me.   
> As always, thanks for reading!! :)


	10. Home

Chapter 10: Home 

"Welcome home," Natasha said, opening the door to her apartment wide. 

Irina stepped inside and looked around. The kitchen was on the left, and a living room to the right. There wasn't much in terms of decoration, but it definitely looked cozier than being chained to a bed. 

Natasha had already shut the front door behind her. 

"I know it's not much, and it's only temporary, really, but-" 

"It's perfect." Irina assured her, smiling. 

Natasha returned her smile. "Follow me." 

She led Irina down a short hallway and opened a door. 

"I didn't think I'd ever have to use this room," Natasha said. "This job doesn't really allow for company." 

Irina walked into her new designated room. In the past, she had always shared a room with at least fifteen other girls, who could be dead or gone the next day. She'd never had a room of her own before. This, plus an apartment shared with only one other person, was slightly overwhelming. This was more space than she'd ever had to herself in her entire life. 

The bed was pushed into the furthest left corner of the room. There was a desk shoved against the right wall. The floor was carpeted. Irina rolled back a part of the wall, only to find an empty space, with a rod hanging above it. 

"That's a closet," Natasha said. "It's where we'll put your clothes and such." 

The walls and room were bare except for the bed and desk. 

"We'll have to go shopping, of course," Natasha said. "This room needs a lot of work." 

****

It took them a total of two days to find all the essentials. They found bedding, clothes, pencils and paper, pens, shoes, decorations, and more. Natasha let her pick a paint color for the walls. They spent an afternoon painting, and flicking the pale blue paint onto each other. 

Irina got to know Natasha. She knew her favorite color, her favorite foods. After a couple hours of work, Natasha would pop a movie into the DVD player, and Irina soon entered the world of Disney movies. She found it strange that all of them ended with the prince saving the princess. 

"Does the princess ever save herself?" She had asked Natasha. 

The next night, Natasha put in the movie Mulan. 

Irina loved making a connection with Nat. She'd never really gotten the opportunity to get to know someone, and since most people she met were either dead or had been her targets, she valued her new friendship. 

A week later, they finished everything. Irina's room finally looked like a place where someone resided. With the room complete, Nat decided it was time to celebrate. They ordered take-out from a Chinese place across the street, and sat at the table, eating chow-mein and orange chicken. Irina thought it was delicious. 

"I have something for you," Natasha said, reaching behind her into a shopping bag. She pulled out a skinny looking book. 

Irina put down her box of chow mein and took it. It was a pale blue, like her room walls. 

"Thank you," She said, turning it over in her hands. "What is it?" 

"Open it." Natasha said. 

Irina opened it. The pages were lined, but blank. 

"It's a journal," Natasha said. "You can write in it." 

Irina looked up. "Write what?" 

"Anything. Events in your life. Your feelings. Your experiences." 

Irina set the journal back on the table. She'd never considered the fact that what she thought was important, or worth writing down. It was a new concept for her. 

"Oh, and I almost forgot," Natasha said. She reached into the bag again, and out came a familiar looking device. 

"You can't write in your journal without this." She said, handing it to Irina. 

"It's a fountain pen." Irina said. 

"Yeah, because you came here from a long time ago." Natasha grinned. 

Irina rolled her eyes. "Not that long ago." 

But she took the pen anyway. 

"Thanks." She said. 

Natasha shrugged. "It was nothing." 

**** 

That night, Irina tossed and turned under her new covers. She couldn't seem to shut her eyes long enough to fall out of the world. Instead, she turned her light on and went to her desk. She pulled out her dust blue journal and her fountain pen. She opened it to the very first page. 

Then she began to write. 

**** 

Natasha was gone in the morning. Irina found a note on the kitchen counter.

_ Sorry. Last minute mission. There’s some cereal in the pantry, and the  _ _ milk’s in the fridge. Help yourself.  _

_ -Nat  _

Irina opened the pantry, to see colorful boxes of random cereal. She chose the one that read Fruit Loops and poured it and some milk into a bowl. While she ate, she tried to figure out what she was going to do with her day. She had a feeling that Natasha might be gone a lot more often, now that she was done helping Irina settle in. 

She soon found that she was very uncomfortable doing nothing. Normally, there had always been something for her to do. The result was always dead people, but that's beside the point. To put it bluntly, Irina felt restless. Finally, she settled on exploring the house. She'd been so busy moving in, she'd hardly had time to look around. Also, she hadn't wanted to be snooping around while Natasha was gone. But now that she had left, the house was pretty much fair game. 

She found Natasha's room very quickly. They lived in an apartment, so there wasn't much space to cover. She quietly twisted the door handle and stepped in. 

The room was set up similar to hers. The only difference was that Nat's had a bathroom attached to it. Irina ignored the bathroom and instead searched everywhere else. 

She didn't find anything. She hadn't really been expecting to. But part of her had been hoping she'd discover something about her past. 

But there was nothing. 

****

"Are you sure?" 

The man nodded. "I'm positive." 

The dark haired man behind the desk looked up. 

"Bring him in." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi people, this will probably be the last update for awhile, because I am starting college really soon! I will try to update when I can, but keep in mind I'm going to be busier than usual! :( Thanks so much for reading!! :)


	11. Chris

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, I'm so sorry this was such a short chapter, I couldn't write as much as I wanted to because HOMEWORK, but I promised an update, so an update there will be.

"There's no one else quite as- _well suited-_ to this particular job." 

Chris was sitting in an uncomfortably hard office chair in front of a high ranking agent who was... intimidating. His name was Agent Dregger. He'd been in the business longer than any man alive. 

"Just so that I understand," He said slowly. "You want me to befriend a thirteen year old." 

Agent Dregger leaned forward in his seat, his eyes appearing to stare straight into Chris' soul. 

"Not just any thirteen year old. This one is- unique. People of powerful influence are very interested in her. It is absolutely vital that you befriend, discover who's side she's on, and whether she is a potential ally-" He paused. "or a threat." 

"Meaning no disrespect sir, but how could a thirteen year old possibly be a threat to this organization?" 

Agent Dregger stood. "People are capable of much more than you might think. Never mistake youth for ineptitude." 

Chris was silent. It made sense. 

"Understood, sir." He said. "What was this girl's name again?" 

"She goes by Iris," Agent Dregger replied, "but her real name is Irina." 

**** 

Natasha got back late. One week late. Irina would have pestered her with questions, but she looked exhausted, so instead, Irina swiped her phone and forced her to get some sleep. 

"You look dead," She informed her. "Go crash in your room until you eyes no longer look like a zombie's." 

Natasha smiled wearily. "Alright. Thank you." 

"Bed." Irina replied firmly, shoving Natasha gently toward her room. 

After an hour, Irina crept up to Natasha's door and stuck her ear against the solid wood. She heard nothing except for quiet breathing. Natasha was out. 

_Well, that was easier than I thought it would be,_ Irina thought. She quietly backed away from the door, and went into the kitchen. Natasha had carelessly dumped her luggage onto the counter. A bad move. 

She rummaged carefully among the luggage until she found what she was looking for. A yellow folder. The mission file. She grabbed some blue gloves from the kitchen drawer and returned to the file. She opened it carefully. 

Staring back at her was a picture of a man with slightly mussed brown hair and glasses. The file declared his name to be Bruce Banner, a nuclear physicist who had gotten into an accident involving radiation, which caused him to occasionally turn into a green giant that tended to destroy everything in his path. Irina couldn't help but think that Red Skull might have taken an interest in him. 

His most recent location was listed as somewhere in South America, but they'd lost track of him after he caught on to the fact that SHIELD was tailing him, and slipped the agent at an airport gate in Buenos Aires. From his current activities, he seemed to be just laying low, helping out in third world countries where disease and poverty were the worst. He was trying to redeem himself. Stay in places where he wouldn't get angry and hurt everyone again. 

"What are you doing?" 

Natasha's voice sent a jolt up Irina's spine. She shoved the file back into the luggage, and pulled the gloves off. 

"I thought you were asleep." Irina said. 

"Don't deflect the question." 

Irina finished zipping up the bag. Her hands were at her sides, out of Natasha's sight line. 

"Well, I was just-" Irina's brain thought quickly. "I was going to start your laundry. I took a whiff of those bags and almost vomited. Where did you go? Must've stunk pretty bad there." 

Natasha's eyes softened. 

"Thanks for thinking of me," She said, grabbing her bags off the counter. "But I can handle this myself. Besides, I bet I have other clothes to wash as well. Wouldn't want to waste water on just a couple of stinky suits. Sustainability, am I right?" 

Irina's heart slowly stopped pounding. Her excuse had worked. Natasha did not suspect anything. 

"Totally." Irina responded, smiling. 

Natasha looked at her for a moment, then turned around and headed back to her room. 

**** 

That night, Irina couldn't stop thinking about the file. Why would Natasha have that file in the first place? Was she trying to help him? Recruit him? Or maybe... 

No. Irina wouldn't consider it. She knew Natasha's past ran parallel to her own, but this was SHIELD. An organization met to help people. 

Right? 


	12. Work Room Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Finally updated on time! Sorry about my seriously sporadic updates (or lack thereof). This chapter's also short, but I think you'll like it anyway. Also, 200 views? Insane. Thank you so much for reading!! :)

Chris found her easily. She stuck out like an ant among the giants. It was her height really. It wasn't that hard to find a teenager among all these adults. 

She was sitting in Work Room Six, a large plastic basket of manila files in front of her. Chris smiled and shook his head, opening the door. She was making this too easy for him. 

"So, they've got you on record duty, huh?" He asked. 

Iris froze, her hand hovering over her next file. She turned her head and looked at him. 

"Who are you?" 

He crossed the room and stuck out his hand. "Chris Davenport. Nice to meet you." 

She shook it cautiously. "You too." 

He looked around the room, then back at Iris, as if waiting for something. He sighed. 

"What?" She asked, irritated. 

"Not going to tell me your name? 

She went back to organizing the folders. "I don't owe you my name just because you decided to freely tell me yours." 

Chris laughed. She was feisty. "You're right. You'd think I'd know better, given our line of work." 

A slight smile appeared on her face, which told Chris he was making some progress. So he decided to throw in one more card. 

"Plus, I already know your name, Iris." He said. 

She froze. 

"How?" She asked. She looked much more nervous now. Much more attentive. 

"It's not hard to learn names when everyone around here wears a name tag," He said, gesturing to hers. 

"Oh," She said, fingering her tag. "I forgot about that." 

When she touched it, it was like she had only just gotten it. Which he also knew. 

"So," He said, leaning against the wall. "Why have they got you in here? Usually it's reserved as punishment or something. The Director must really hate you." 

She muttered something under her breath, then sighed. "Let's just say there's a certain level of disconnect between me and my superiors." 

"I'm assuming it's something more than the age gap," Chris joked. "How old are you, by the way?" 

"Almost fourteen." She replied, setting down her finished box and picking up another. 

"Nice. I joined around your age too." He said, picking up a box and starting on it. 

Iris set her box on the table. "I don't need your help." 

"Oh, I don't mind," Chris said. "My shift doesn't start for another fifteen minutes." 

That wasn't true. He was already around ten minutes late. But he'd deal with the consequences of that later. This was more important. 

She glared at him at first, but then she started to realize that he wasn't going to go away. Eventually she seemed to settle on completely ignoring him. 

They worked silently together for a few minutes, alphabetizing the records. While they worked, Chris tried to profile her, just like he would any of the criminals whose data he updated. 

She was built for spying, small and slight, although he knew that she probably still packed a punch in her tiny hand. Speaking of, she barely made any sound as she filed the folders. She was used to having to be quiet and stealthy. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, out of her face to ensure that if needed, she had total visibility. 

This girl was a professional. 

Iris looked up. "I've never seen you before now. What department do you work in?" 

"Criminal Investigation, but usually I just say that to make it sound cooler. It's more like Criminal Data Collection." 

It was partly true. He did work in Criminal Data Collection. But he also had another job. One more similar to hers. 

"So you stare at a computer screen all day." Iris summarized, still flying through the files. 

He put a hand to his chest, as if she'd just wounded him. "Ouch, that's hurtful." 

She shrugged. "I didn't mean for it to be. It's still better than sorting records." 

He grinned. "I guess that's true." 

They worked together in silence for about ten more minutes, then Charlie left to go begin his shift. He was now exactly twenty five minutes late. Gary was going to kill him. As he rushed through the halls, he thought to himself. It had been a good start. Iris, or rather, Irina, hadn't suspected a thing. It was a pity they couldn't become friends in real life. He genuinely enjoyed her company. 

But it was much more fun playing games. 


	13. (It's Not a Chapter)

Hi guys! Unfortunately I kinda lost interest in writing this. And I know that if I'm not interested in writing it, no one will be interested in reading it. So unfortunately I'm retiring this fic. However, I still like the concept, but I definitely feel like I could've done better. So it's possible that in the future, I'll try re-writing this. Who knows? I may even be re-working the plot rn ;) In the mean time, if you read this and also love Harry Potter (or more specifically, The Marauders) I have been currently writing that! It is called The Werewolf, by the same username. So go check it out if you want to! If not, that's completely fine. Happy Holidays everyone! I really did enjoy writing this for awhile! Thank you so much for reading! I'll let you know if I ever re-work it.


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